On a Friday night, “Yonghao” hurried out of the office building. He pulled the hood of his jacket tight with his left hand to block the fine raindrops, while fumbling with his phone in his right hand, checking high-speed train tickets from Shanghai to Nanjing. Suddenly, he froze, turned around, and reappeared at the office building gate two minutes later, holding a dark card box in his hand, before plunging into the noisy crowd of the subway station.
He was on his way to participate in the Riftbound: League of Legends TCG Season 2 Regional Open – Nanjing Station. And the welcome ceremony from this ancient capital of six dynasties was a gentle and silent snow. The train slowly slid into Nanjing South Railway Station. When he got off, the cool air rushed towards him. A thin layer of white had accumulated on the branches of the parasol trees outside the station, and the light from the street lamps was sifted by the snowflakes into a mist, shrouding the streets.
It was already 11 o’clock at night when he opened the hotel room door. He took out the card box and checked the main deck and sideboard over and over again. After confirming everything was correct, he neatly arranged the deck into the card box, turned off the light, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep quickly.
In Riftbound Set 1, Yonghao was obsessed with strength and always played Kai’Sa and Blade Master. But when Season 2 was launched, he discovered Ornn. He had always liked Ornn when playing League of Legends, so naturally, he began to devote himself to studying the blue-green deck. Ornn’s Legendary ability meant he was definitely strongly associated with equipment cards, but along with the various equipment released in Set 2, there were also a large number of strategy cards targeting equipment. This made Ornn’s living environment worrying, especially in the BO3 sideboarding format, where Ornn’s response methods were even more stretched. At first, he learned some common deck constructions online, but they didn’t feel smooth in actual use. So he started to develop and try his own versions: a flexible version carrying small units like [Horned Shepherd]; a late-game version with [Ornn] as the sole core; and a version focusing on off-turn spell interaction with [Sona], and so on. He recorded all these constructions in his official Riftbound mini-program, then formed decks to practice at the card shop. In this way, he cycled through constructing, practicing, and revising, and finally finalized the final version of the deck a week before the competition.
Early on Saturday morning, the alarm pulled him out of bed. He quickly grabbed his card box and rushed to the competition venue. On the way, he stuffed breakfast into his mouth while submitting his deck.
When he sat down according to the table number on the official Riftbound mini-program, he suddenly found that his opponent in the first round was none other than “Uncle Zhang”. As they were chatting, the referee randomly selected them for a deck check. Soon, the referee walked over with a serious face, holding their card boxes: “Player Yonghao, the deck list you submitted is inconsistent with the deck you are carrying. According to the rules, your score in the first round of the Swiss Rounds will be ruled a loss. You can only continue to participate in the competition after restoring your deck to the submitted deck list.”
Yonghao was stunned at first, then took out his phone to compare. It turned out that he had been in too much of a hurry that morning and accidentally submitted an old version of his deck in his fluster. Yonghao admitted it was his mistake and was willing to accept the punishment. However, the top priority was to make up for the missing cards. Uncle Zhang, sitting opposite him, was also in a hurry: “Hurry up, check which cards you’re missing first.” The two spread out a complete Ornn deck on the table and compared them one by one, only to find that [Sterak’s Gage], [Starlit Convergence], [Doran’s Shield], and [Poro Feast] were missing. Their fluster also attracted the attention of the neighbors at the next table. Coincidentally, there were not many Ornn players at the Nanjing Station, only about a dozen in total. And sitting next to Yonghao was exactly a fellow Ornn enthusiast. The enthusiastic Ornn fan took out his spare cards from his backpack and gave [Doran’s Shield] and [Poro Feast] to Yonghao. People around also asked their friends if they had any extra cards, and soon a few more [Starlit Convergence] were gathered. With everyone’s help, Yonghao’s deck was only missing one [Sterak’s Gage].
Uncle Zhang suggested that they could buy cards on the spot to see if they could open the missing one.
So the two got up and bought three packs of Forged Soul Refinement Standard Boosters together. One pack, two packs—they bowed their heads and opened the card packs quickly. Suddenly, Yonghao noticed a shiny card: he had opened [Irelia Oversized Signature] card.
“I was really excited at that time, but what I really wanted was Sterak’s Gage,” Yonghao said. “So I kept opening the remaining card packs.”
Later, Uncle Zhang not only opened [Sterak’s Gage] but also [Spirit Blossom Vayne]. Finally, with the help of everyone, Yonghao could continue his competition.
“I was especially excited and moved. I am very grateful to Uncle Zhang and the fellow Ornn player next to me. He was playing Ahri in Set 1 and still insists on the blue-green deck. Logically speaking, he and I are competitors for the Ornn Legendary Master Card, but he lent me the cards without hesitation,” Yonghao said with sincere eyes.
Before Yonghao restored his deck to the submitted version, he had a friendly match with Uncle Zhang using the deck he was supposed to play with. And he defeated Uncle Zhang with excellent operations and information advantage.
EMMr is from Hong Kong and is studying for a master’s degree in Shanghai. Her favorite hero is “Lux”.
“I have always liked Lux when playing League of Legends, whether as a midlaner or a support. Because she has so many skins, it feels like a costume show. And her background story is very evil—I love it,” EMMr said with a smile while playing with a 3D-printed staff.
So after “Trial Grounds” was launched, she has been sticking to this Legendary hero. Every Tuesday and Thursday, EMMr goes to the card shop to play cards with her friends, and she has never missed a True Love Challenge or Rift Night. Recently, she has also become obsessed with the four-player melee mode. “In multiplayer mode, yellow-colored cards have a great advantage, and Lux can move flexibly across the battlefield.”
“However, there are relatively few card shops in Hong Kong. When I went home before, I could only practice cards with friends via video call online. But I have also heard that the Traditional Chinese version of Riftbound is in progress, so I should be able to play cards in Hong Kong’s card shops in the near future!”
“Tudou” (Potato) took the initiative to remind his opponent of Darius’ Active effect and the missed activation of [Power Obelisk] on the live broadcast table, which was highly praised by the commentators and the audience.
This Nanjing Station was his first competition in Season 2. At first, he set a not-so-high goal for himself: “Making it to Day 2 is a success.”
After successfully advancing with a 6-1 record in the Swiss Rounds, the pressure on him was instantly relieved, and he began to enjoy the competition. “I think we shouldn’t be too obsessed with the title of champion; instead, we should focus more on the sense of satisfaction in our hearts and the process of doing our best. After reaching a certain amount of practice in card games, winning or losing is greatly affected by luck. Setting overly high goals will bring unnecessary pressure on ourselves.”
When he heard the commentators praise him for allowing his opponent to make up for the missed activation, Tudou thought it was just the basic quality of a card player. He believes that the charm of physical card games lies in face-to-face communication and interaction. It is dishonorable to win by nitpicking on the opponent’s rule mistakes, and he really doesn’t want the opponent to leave regrets due to carelessness.
Yonghao failed to advance. But the opponent he defeated in the “friendly match” in the first round went all the way to the end, winning the championship with Annie; EMMr failed to get Lux’s “Legendary Master Award”, but she has already booked her trip to Shenzhen; Tudou was eliminated in the semi-finals, but his gentle and modest character has become known to everyone.
“Do good deeds without asking about the future.” This sentence left the most vivid footnote for the card tables tonight.
A true card player understands: upholding the rules is safeguarding the longest-lasting vitality of this game; releasing kindness is accumulating the warmest sunshine for the community they belong to; treating others as you would treat yourself will also bring you kindness in return.
The value of this competition will eventually be surpassed. The champion this time cannot be undefeated forever, and will even be replaced by later generations. But the kindness released within the framework of the rules, the respect beyond winning and losing, and the seemingly “useless” actions that warmed a stranger—they will fall into the heart like seeds, take root, germinate, bloom, and bear fruit at a future card table, or even in a certain period of life.
We pursue victory here, but we always remember—there are things more worth guarding than victory.
On the Riftbound arena, winning and losing are the road, not the destination. Summoners confront each other in thinking, gather because of kindness, and help each other beyond victory and defeat. The friendship, mutual assistance, and pure love between Summoners are the eternal light that we jointly uphold and are proud of.
